Interesting backgroud on the Middle East...

I was watching a documentary on the Middle East in the years after WWI and one thing that struck me was that a commission (British I think, but I might be remembering wrongly) went through the area interviewing the people and found that over 80% of the Muslims living in what we'd now consider Palestine considered themselves to be Syrians back around 1920 and wanted their land to be a part of a Greater Syria.

No big news about that, I guess -- I just thought it was kind of interesting.

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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

Its true that "Palestinians" seem to be regarded somewhat like the Gypsies of the Arab world. Whether its right or wrong I dont know.. But none of their neighbours want them on their land..😷

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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@jshm2 Yes. I see that. But it was ever so with people. Sadly our grasping natures are what got us to the top of the food chain and keep us competing..Personally, I taught those I love to be Switzerland wherever possible. That way you survive and take a profit from both sides.. But that cant always work..😷

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

@whowasthatmaskedman Yes, the US recognized Israel first, but it was the British back-room deals of WWI and WWII that created Israel and Palestine as nations.

Dolimyte · 41-45, M

Some of history's greatest tragedies have been caused by a British guy taking a ruler to a map.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@Dolimyte more than “some”

FrogManSometimesLooksBothWays · M

Over the years there has been an emerging Palestinian identity.

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

@FrogManSometimesLooksBothWays Evidently. It was interesting seeing all the different groups/nationalities fighting each other and the British and French and Russians at the time, nations appearing and disappearing in months sometimes.

NativePortlander1970

The Balfour Agreement, it was fucked from the start because of the Ottoman Empire pretty much dictating everything out of Turkey.

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ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

@jshm2 The French never "colonized" Syria; in 1920 they were given a "mandate" by the League of Nations that lasted until 1946 and included "Ottoman Syria", Lebanon, Alexandretta, and Cilicia. "Greater Syria" was not an official nation, but that does not mean the "Palestinians" of the time did not mostly consider themselves to be Syrians -- even if they "didn;t speak French". LOL The nations came and went quickly there during the period. "The administration of the region under the French was carried out through a number of different governments and territories, including the Syrian Federation (1922–24), the State of Syria (1925–1930) and the Mandatory Syrian Republic (1930–1946), as well as smaller states: Greater Lebanon, the Alawite State, and the Jabal Druze State. Hatay State was annexed by Turkey in 1939."

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